Tools, Sharpening and Power Machinery - Miter Saw/Shop Vac combo question

Being a new home owner, I don't have much of the "larger" tools yet (I still haven't purchased a miter saw that I was questioning about a month ago). For some reason, I would think everyone should own some sort of wet/dry vac. Up to this point, I don't have either (miter/shop vac). I was trying to decide if I should get something large enough for general clean-up and the rarity of flooding (knock on wood). I was also thinking of attaching the shop vac to the dust port on a miter saw. So, my question I guess is...what is a decent homeowner size shop vac and would you have it hooked up to your miter saw?

thanks
matt

I have a 5 hp 12 gallon shop vac and I'm happy with it. I'm sure it could be hooked up to my miter saw, but my shop is an unused garage stall that's pretty tight, so I usually wheel the saw into the driveway to use it and am therefore not concerned about catching the sawdust.

Funny you should ask since I recently did just this. Even though I have a full-size dust collector for my shop, I was warned (by my friends at the now defunct Woodworkers Warehouse) not to try to reduce the 4" line(s) down to 2" or my suction would suffer. I didnt listen but they were right, there was virtually no suction on the hose. So I purchased a 2nd shop vac just for my bandsaw and miter saw. I got the 6.5HP (peak) Quiet Deluxe 16 Gallons Shop-Vac brand. I picked the "Quiet Deluxe" model because my original 10 gallon (now about 20 years old) is SO LOUD it is annoying to use. But... While the new one is still much quieter than the old one (probably a 50-60% reduction in volume) it is still too loud to hear the stereo over while it is running. And the way the Quiet Deluxe system is designed, they distribute the output air (blower) downwards in a circle from around the top of the vacuum which gives 2 drawbacks. The first is, if you turn it on in the middle of a sawdust covered floor, it blows the sawdust near it all over, the second is, you don't get a blower output (very handy at times) that you can connect to a hose.

My long term solution to the noise is to put the vac in the basement (with my dust collector and compressor) and pipe it to the shop.

As for dust collection with the miter saw, it works as well as can be expected. I have a 2 1/2" shop vac hose connected to an elbow (gives clearance to the wall) and then to a "universal" dust port adapter on my Delta 12" miter saw. This is actually about a 1" port on the saw. The thing is, miter saws (like circular and table saws) are not that well suited to dust collection. Since so much of the blade is exposed during the cutting process, some chips and dust are always free to get loose. But it does cut the mess down a lot and beats emptying the bag all the time.

As far as choice of vacuum goes, 16 gallons is pretty big and will hold mucho sawdust and miter saws just dont produce that much (compared to a planer or jointer anyway). Since I had always planned to make mine remote I wanted it pretty big. 12 gallows would be more than adequate. I would NOT again get the "Quiet" system for the reasons mentioned above....

Hope this Helps.

snarksdad...

Yes, it helps! Thanks for your input and your experience.

Matt

I have a older craftsman wet/dry vac and allthough I don't have a saw to hook it up to its still a helpfull tool to have.

Who knows, this will give you a good excuse to go buy a saw, right? I mean, a vacuum with no saw....who ever heard of such a thing. Shop mentality is a wonderful thing to have. And it can daisy chain forever if you let it.

In the last month, I purchased both and use them together. I purchased the Dewalt DW708 Sliding Mitre Saw (It's been replaced by the DW718, but you can still find the 708 on-line for $200 less and a lot of people feel the 708 is superior to the 718) and a Shop-Vac Brand 12 Gallon, 5.5 Peak HP Wet/Dry Vac to go with it.

In addiiton, the shop-vac blower/motor detaches and becomes a 250 MPH corded electrical blower. My wife loves this feature since she doesn't feel comfortable using our gas powered blower. You can pick this particular shop vac up at the big blue box store. Occassionaly, it's $20 off their normal price making it very affordable - less than $60.

Together, thew two have been a great combination. Thre is a fitting that comes with the shop-vac that fits right into the DW708's dust collection port and does a very good job collecting the saw dust.

I also used the vacuum to suck 25" of water out of my deck footings last week with absolutely no problem. I was even able to suck up the saturated mud that I could not pull out of the hole using a clam-shell post hole digger.

The Shop-Vac and the Miter Saw have definatly been two purchases that even my wife agrees were good ones.

Who knows, this will give you a good excuse to go buy a saw, right? I mean, a vacuum with no saw....who ever heard of such a thing. Shop mentality is a wonderful thing to have. And it can daisy chain forever if you let it.


I actually bought a Ridgid 10" miter about 2-3 months ago. I also built a pretty sweeeeet workbench (about 16' long & 4' high) that has a spot to slip the miter saw in...so the bench top and miter top are level. I was going to post a picture of it in another thread....but I never did.:o

pics posted in the "Lumber" forum under the thread labled "Plywood":D